I wonder how long it took Ansel Adams to do in the dark room what it now takes 5 minutes to do in Adobe Lightroom.
John (bird whisperer),
Son of Groucho,
Steve C, Team Marina,
Big Joe Silenced,
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Just another Bubba,
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And I also imagine what images Ansel Adams would create if he were alive today and using modern photographic tools.
- Scoble, Alex Scoble
See also: Jerry Uelsmann, who still does it the old fashioned way.
- Marie
The only reason anyone CAN do it in Lightroom is because Adams did it first. :)
- Just another Bubba
I have heard that Ansel dried his test prints in the microwave. If that's the case, I'd say he'd embrace digital tech for making photos.
- Marie
I figured I'd get at least one person giving the hipster "you can't do what he did with Lightroom" non-answer answer...thought it might be here...ended up being on Facebook instead.
- Scoble, Alex Scoble
I loved working in a darkroom. It's old fashioned now, but stumbling around in the dark had a certain quality.
- Eric - Final Countdown
technically, it's said Adams didn't do a lot of darkroom tweaking with his work. He is known best for the fact that his work was all done in camera, exposure and composition, such that almost no dodging or burning was done in the darkroom.
- t-ra is ugly crying
I imagine he developed an efficient enough workflow that the difference would be less than one might think. But it still takes time for film to develop, prints to dry, etc.
- John (bird whisperer)
Yup, there's still something to be said for being able to take good pics without needing any post-processing effects, either chemically or digitally.
- Victor Ganata
Heh, yeah, garbage in, garbage out...although Lightroom can salvage things a bit. This thought popped up in my head as I was working on some photos last night because Lightroom is so easy and intuitive to use. What he created would be amazing even if done with modern equipment/technology, but even more so given the limitations of what he had to work with. Remove those limitations and what even greater wonders could he have created?
- Scoble, Alex Scoble
I thought it was said that Ansel Adams would spend hours in the darkroom on just one print.
- Andrew C (✔)
It sounds like it was mainly because he was concerned about the fidelity of the print (and he was tasked with making a lot of prints), not necessarily because he was dodging and burning the hell out of his negatives. He wasn't necessarily doing a lot of post-processing, I think.
- Victor Ganata